BY MATT LEPAY
Voice of the Badgers
MADISON, Wis. — Assuming he remains the Western Michigan coach through the Cotton Bowl, P.J. Fleck and his Broncos program will be the big story leading up to the Jan. 2 matchup in Arlington, Texas. He has both sizzle and substance. Fleck's "Row the Boat" theme sounds cool and his players' performance to date is even better.
WMU already has beaten Northwestern and Illinois. Now the Broncos look to improve their record vs. the Big Ten this season to 3-0, and their overall mark to 14-0.
Fleck has seen the Badgers up close, but it has been awhile: Sept. 14, 2002 at Camp Randall Stadium.
Fleck had an outstanding college career at Northern Illinois. He left the Huskies program as one of the school's all-time best receivers and punt return men. His 2002 season was brief. Fleck appeared in just three games, with three catches for 27 yards.
He shows up in the participation chart for that 2002 game in Madison but had no statistics. The rest of the team gave Wisconsin all it wanted. Actually, one could argue NIU outplayed the Badgers that day, but Wisconsin scored a late touchdown to slip past the Huskies, 24-21. Three penalties — a holding and two pass interference calls — helped the home team on its game-winning drive.
Yes, you can assume the visiting team was none too happy about having a questionable call or two go against it. Northern Illinois had 455 yards of total offense compared to 275 for the Badgers. Wisconsin managed just 68 rushing yards. Quarterback Brooks Bollinger was under siege — the Huskies sacked him 10 times.
Yet the Badgers managed to find a way to win.
Wisconsin's last meeting with Western Michigan was on a steamy August night in 2000. To some, it is referred to as the "Shoe Box game." Earlier in the day, the Badgers were dealing with player suspensions related to NCAA sanctions regarding extra benefits given to student-athletes. They went into the season opener a very short-handed team.
Josh Hunt made a name for himself with an 89-yard punt return for the Badgers' first touchdown of the year. There was nothing easy about Wisconsin's 19-7 victory against the Broncos.
What's the point here? Simple. The Mid-American Conference plays football too and it plays it well. Western Michigan plays this game extremely well. It scores 43 points a game and it rolls up nearly 500 yards of offense.
The Badgers just went up against a seriously talented quarterback. They'll see another one in Zach Terrell, who has thrown for 32 touchdowns and just 3 interceptions. His top receiver is Corey Davis, who had 91 — count 'em — 91 catches for 1,427 yards and 18 touchdowns.
This promises to be one more stern test for the Badgers.
Already I have heard the noise. This is a no-win bowl game. To that, I say bull(bleep). This is a chance to close out a special season. A chance to win for the 11th time, which probably is three or four more victories than most thought this team could give you.
It is a chance for a team that began the season by playing in the most storied of NFL stadiums and now can close by playing in the grandest of NFL venues — Jerry's World — home of the Dallas Cowboys. It also is a bowl game with a rich history.
Of course what happened last Saturday will sting. It stings more for these players than any of the rest of us will ever understand. Then they will move on. They always do.
They get to play for each other one more time. I am pretty sure they will do everything they can to make it count.
